Why Blog Your Stories?

[Joria]

I guess it's sort of a pet peeve of mind.  I go to read one of the great stories posted by you guys and find out I have to go to your blog instead of just reading them right here where they would get a lot more traffic.  It is so easy to do a story here on the best forum in the world, and really adding pictures from any of the picture sites isn't that hard.  So why do you bloggers blog them?  I'm not trying to be negative, I just really want to know the reason.  You just could change my attitude about it if there is a reason and I'll be able to have more stories to read.

So why don't I read the blogged ones?  Sometimes the background is so pretty, but makes it very hard to read, even with everything expanded.  I mentioned this to one blogger and she very nicely changed the background to something less visually confusing, and still beautiful.  Of course, I follow her story now. 

Sometimes it's hard to just go from one chapter to the next smoothly.  Here on the forum you just keep going, read people's comments, and on to the next chapter.  On a blog, often you have to go back from the blog, to the forum, and then back to the blog to get to the next chapter, or the link to the next chapter, if it's up on the blog page, doesn't work. 

So let me know why you blog, please.

[dodi90]

The reason that I can think of why people prefer to put the stories in their personal blog is well, to earn little money via ads that is not possible to do in the forum. And as to why they don't just copy paste the content is more like because sometimes the editing and formatting is already perfect on the blog but need more adjustment in the forum.

Some do need more tools to enhance their story in visual way and I think blog is better rather than forum to post stories.

[MrsFlynn]

I think one reason for people to post their stories on their own blog is they get full control over how they edit their stories. They don't get full control here at the forum.

Plus for some blog writers it may just be easier to upload their stories to their blog instead, just like Dodi mentioned.

We actually encourage members to create their own blog. So they can have full creative control over their stories in every way.

But I do understand the frustration of not being able to read a blog due to hard to look at backgrounds, making text and other things harder to read and see. And having to go back and forth between blog and forum to read comments.

I've actually passed on reading blogs just for that reason - hard to read/see stories due to the backgrounds and/or colored text. Best thing you can do is either pm or email the person to ask if they mind changing this or that.

MrsFlynn

[KRae]

Some blogs have really good links to the next chapter. If not, I have a tendency to lose interest.

[MarianT]

I tried a couple of blogs when TS4 first came out, but I found it frustrating for some of the reasons Joria mentioned. For me, the hardest thing is dealing with the reverse order of chapters. If you have the kind of blog that's more of a journal, it makes sense for the most recent entry to be first, but if you're telling a story, it's confusing. I must confess that I'm less likely to read a story that's on someone's blog; I might check a few entries to get an idea, but I do prefer the ones on the forum.

[Deklitch]

Also some people may have blogs for more than just the sims. Doing a blog may suit them better as they have already used it in the past and may find the coding easier to follow there than in a forum like this.

[JudesSims]

I post my stories on a blog because I don't have to worry about a third party option for screenshots. Also, I get a few pennies for advertisements. I really do need to find a better way of linking to the next chapters. I agree that the blog platform isn't set up for storytelling. I did change my blog design to make it (hopefully) more appealing.

[MarianT]

Your design is appealing, Jude, and you're right, not having to go to something like photobucket is easier and cheaper.

[Trip]

I'll admit it: half the reason I blog nowadays is because I like being able to have a chapter of 60 images if I need to.

It's also easier to promote a story that's on a blog across multiple communities. There isn't necessarily a requirement to join another site just to comment (I allow anonymous comments for this reason), and it feels less intrusive to link to in general.

There's generally not much of a content restriction on blogs. And this isn't a dig against our forum! But I'm okay with losing one venue to post my stories on for the freedom to write what I want and still link to it on the official forums/Reddit/Tumblr/etc.

Also, just a note from the other side, but I get more hits on my blog than I did posting a story just on this forum. You kind of need to play your cards right with that, but there's a little more potential for a big audience with a blog.

[experience]

@Joria I know what you mean. I was kind of against it when I first joined and started sharing my stories. I couldn't understand why I would want my viewers travelling off to some other site to view a story when they could have easily read it on a board made (in a way) for that exact reason. Then I came to the realization of two things:

First: What happens to my stories if this forum's servers go down or something else that erases all files? Sure, I have them backed up on my computer, the pictures are hosted on another site and the text is saved somewhere, but to have them all formatted and put together to appear online... I can say doing all of that is what takes the most work... The most work that is not enjoyable. Placing them on a blog works as a back up so if something does happen either here to on the blog, I always have something to copy from.

Second: We have rules here, ones that need to be obeyed, and sometimes there are times in stories where those rules get the boundaries pushed. If I believe for my story that something (not allowed here) would have a bigger impact, I can have it happen, post that one chapter on my blog and return here next week with the following chapter. Those who would want to read it can go there while those who might find it offensive can ignore and continue on without having to scroll through that chapter.

As I say, my first place to post is here, but if I encounter a problem for a chapter here and there, the story doesn't need to be sacrificed to fit with the rules. The first season of Divine Deception is able to play inside the guidelines, although there will be parts in the second season that pushes a bit and I would like to be able to do both: stay and post here while not sacrificing my story.

((Off Topic: @Trip could you pm me a link to your blog. I would love to follow!))

[Joria]

WOW!  Thank you to all of you who posted really very valid reasons for putting your stories up on a blog.  I think one of the things that bug me about blogs as a reader is the ads, but I can see this could be a nice little piece of change for the author.  Good on you and understood.  I also understand the rules thing.  I admit when I want to say something even a little stronger than dagnabit, it can frustrate me if I can't and sometimes in the story it is needed.  If you do have "forbidden" things in your blog, to protect the youngsters who play and read here I guess you'd have to just post your link via a PM.  Right? 

Maybe it would be easier if we had a general baby board that was just for blogs?  That way, if you aren't one who will go read a blog, (myself in general, although I always check them out so I can see if I can read and follow them ), you can just go on and read the ones that are posted here. 

I was also finding fewer stories posted here and that would not be helpful for the forum in general.  The more we have here, the more followers we'll get and the better a forum it will continue to be. So that was a concern for this old veteran.  This is my "home" and I love seeing it thrive.

Thanks for the responses, you guys!  It really cleared up some stuff for me.  I'll be happy to read your blogs if you could please pm me a link?

[dodi90]

I also dislike ads in general but I realized they are necessary to support the story maker. If I really like the content, I usually use another browser that did not have ad block to view it once a day. But when I really want to read without ads getting in the way, I use browser with ad block so I don't get distracted.

[BigMud]

I like using blogger because I can upload photos directly from my computer, I don't need to use a third party image hosting site like photobucket, which to me can get tedious. Also, I like having all my chapters accessible in one place, one archive (I use a different blog for every story so all you need to do is click "earlier" to get to the next chapter), and there's no need to scroll through replies. There's also the matter of it being more accessible for people who don't use this forum.

.. I can't think of any more reasons, but yeah that's the gist of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Playalot]

As someone who doesn't use a blog I thought I'd just share why I generally don't read blogs. Usually the reverse order of chapters does my head in. It's not so bad if I catch the story from the beginning but navigating to the beginning of a story with many chapters is just something that I find a right pain to do. Some of the 'noisier' backgrounds make reading quite difficult and usually the size of screenshots are so small that viewing is impossible! That being said... a good story is a good story no matter where it's posted. 

[experience]

As someone who doesn't use a blog I thought I'd just share why I generally don't read blogs. Usually the reverse order of chapters does my head in. It's not so bad if I catch the story from the beginning but navigating to the beginning of a story with many chapters is just something that I find a right pain to do. Some of the 'noisier' backgrounds make reading quite difficult and usually the size of screenshots are so small that viewing is impossible! That being said... a good story is a good story no matter where it's posted. 

I have found this as well. I find is rather surprising that not many bloggers have thought of (or maybe haven't found the time to) making a chapter guide. I know it can be a hassle, but it is for the convenience of the readers. I now follow a couple blogs from simmers here and thankfully they have a guide. As Playalot said, scrolling through chapters and chapters becomes tedious pretty quickly.